Terms & Conditions

1. General

This website (the "Site") is operated by ACH Shoosmiths. ACH Shoosmiths is the trading name of Shoosmiths LLP in Scotland ("Shoosmiths").

Shoosmiths LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales under number OC 374987 whose registered office is at Witan Gate House, 500-600 Witan Gate West, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom MK9 1SH. Shoosmiths LLP is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Our professional rules can be found at www.sra.org.uk/rules.

Shoosmiths LLP is also recognised as a multi national practice with the Law Society of Scotland under number 43932. The Law Society of Scotland regulates Scottish activities through its professional rules which can be found at www.lawscot.org.uk

Use of the Site and the documents, files and other information available through it is governed by the terms and conditions set out below as amended from time to time (the "Terms") which apply to any person using the Site ("you"/"your"). If you are accessing or using the Site in your capacity as an employee, director, officer, partner or agent of a corporate or unincorporated entity "you" and "your" shall refer to you and such entity and you represent that you are authorised to accept these terms and conditions on behalf of such entity and agree to be personally bound by these terms and conditions.

By accessing any pages or content within the Site, you shall be deemed to have accepted the Terms. Please read them carefully before you access any other pages on the Site. If you do not accept any of the Terms, you may not use the Site. By accessing the Site, you agree that you will access its contents solely for your own use. You may print out a single hard copy of any part of the content of the Site for your use in accordance with these Terms.

If you require advice on a specific legal problem please contact the relevant fee earner listed on the Site or alternatively you can send an email to commercialweb@shoosmiths.co.uk. The content on the Site is for general information only and should not be regarded as an exhaustive analysis of the law. It is provided to the public free of charge, does not constitute legal advice and must not be relied upon as such to make any decisions. For that reason users should seek specific legal advice about any matter which concerns them. Use of and access to this Site does not of itself create a solicitor/client relationship between you and Shoosmiths and where such an arrangement does exist it is governed by separate off-line terms of engagement.

All electronic links to any part of this site require the consent of Shoosmiths. Please email requests to commercialweb@shoosmiths.co.uk. Where consent is not obtained we reserve the right to remove any link at anytime.

If you would like to link to the Site, you may only do so on the basis that you link to, but do not replicate, the Site, and subject to the conditions set out in the paragraph below. Shoosmiths expressly reserves the right to revoke this right for breach of this clause and to take any action it deems appropriate. You shall fully indemnify Shoosmiths for any loss or damage suffered by us or any or any of its group companies for breach of this clause.

The conditions referred to in the paragraph 1.7 are as follows:

(a) you do not remove, distort or otherwise alter the size or appearance of Shoosmiths' logos;
(b) you do not create a frame or any other browser or border environment around the Site;
(c) you do not in any way imply that Shoosmiths is endorsing any products or services other than its own;
(d) you do not misrepresent your relationship with Shoosmiths nor present any other false information about Shoosmiths;
(e) you do not otherwise use any Shoosmiths' trade marks displayed on the Site without express written permission from Shoosmiths;
(f) you do not link from a website that is not owned by you; and
(g) your website does not contain content that is distasteful, offensive or controversial, infringes any intellectual property rights or other rights of any other person or otherwise does not comply with all applicable laws and regulations.

1.9 Except as expressly permitted elsewhere in these Terms, you may not (except to the extent required in order to use the Site in accordance with these terms and conditions) copy, store in any medium (including in any other website), distribute, transmit, re-transmit, broadcast, modify, delete or show in public any part of the Site or systematically extract material from the Site or any document available through it, create any derivative works from it or in any other way exploit commercially all or any part of the Site or any document available through it without the prior written permission of Shoosmiths.

2. Intellectual Property Rights

2.1 The intellectual property rights (including but not limited to all copyright, trade marks and database rights) in the content, layout and structure of and software that runs the Site are owned by or licensed to us. You may view or download any part of the Site for private use only. Save to the extent expressly permitted by applicable laws, you must not copy, modify, download, distribute, decipher, de-compile, interfere with or attempt to interfere with the content, layout, structure or software of the Site (in whole or in part) on a network without our prior written permission. Any content downloaded in accordance with this disclaimer may not be used in any other manner without our prior written permission.

2.2 The trade marks, logos and trade names displayed on the Site ("Marks") are the property of Shoosmiths or other third parties. You are not permitted to download, copy, modify or use the Marks without the prior written consent of Shoosmiths or such third party who may own the Marks. The design and layout of the Site is protected by copyright, database right, design rights and other similar laws and may not be copied or imitated in whole or in part.

3. Disclaimer

3.1 Whilst Shoosmiths endeavours to ensure that content on the Site is accurate at the date of publication, no warranties or representations are given as to its accuracy, completeness, reliability, suitability or quality. The content of these pages is provided as an information guide only and based on information available to us as at the time of editing and accordingly may not remain current. The information has not been verified by us and no responsibility is accepted by us or on our behalf for the accuracy, completeness, reliability, suitability or quality of any content on the Site or any site to which these pages connect, including any feature or aspect of such pages or site. No mention of any organisation, company or individual whether on these pages or other sites to which these pages are linked shall imply any warranty as to its standing or capability on our part.

3.2 To the fullest extent permissible by law, Shoosmiths excludes all liability (save in respect to death and personal injury caused by negligence and for fraud) for any loss or damage caused by using or relying upon the content appearing on the Site. In particular, we will not be liable to you or any third party for any consequential loss or damage including any financial loss, loss of profit, revenue or business.

3.3 Links to other websites are provided for information only. We take no responsibility and disclaim all liability in respect of any material found on any third party sites. If you decide to access any third party websites linked to the Site, you do this entirely at your own risk. You may be subject to the terms of use applicable to such third party sites.

3.4 We make no claims that any material contained on the Site can be lawfully viewed or downloaded outside of the United Kingdom. Access to materials may not be legal by certain persons or in certain countries. If you are accessing the Site from outside the United Kingdom you do so at your own risk and are responsible for compliance with laws in your jurisdiction.

3.5 We make no guarantees that the Site is free from viruses or other malicious code. We suggest that you check for viruses before downloading any part of the Site. You must not post or provide to us via the Site, any document or file which you believe may contain a virus. You must virus check any document or file which you intend to post or provide to us via the Site. We disclaim to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law all liability (save in respect of death or personal injury caused by negligence and for fraud) relating to or arising in connection with any computer viruses or other malicious code originating from the Site or any third party website accessed via the Site including (but not limited to) (a) any damage or loss caused by errors, computer viruses, other malicious code or harmful components originating or contracted from the Site and (b) any interruptions in your access to the Site.

3.6 You may only use the Site for lawful purposes. You must ensure that any document, file or other information that you intend to post to the Site or provide to us via the Site does not contravene any applicable laws or contravene any person's legal rights and you must not post or upload anything indecent, obscene, abusive, libellous or defamatory. We do not monitor or edit documents or files posted or provided to us by other persons for posting on the Site and accordingly we do not accept any responsibility for their content or for any damage or loss you may suffer. You hereby acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for the form, content and accuracy of any documents or files that you post on the Site. We reserve the right to remove material from the Site that infringes these rules.

4. Privacy Policy/Data Protection

4.1 We will only use your personal data in accordance with our Privacy Policy, which is hereby incorporated into the Terms. By accepting the Terms, you also agree to accept the terms of our Privacy Policy which can be found at http://www.ach-shoosmiths.co.uk/privacy_policy

5. Variations

5.1 We reserve the right to amend or replace the Terms at any time. If we make substantial changes, we will post a notice on the Site.

6. Restricted Areas

6.1 Shoosmiths provides a variety of services to clients and third parties online which are accessible only with a username and password. Other services are available and are governed by separate terms and conditions.

6.2 Access to the Restricted Areas is restricted to authorised persons. If you believe you have been granted access to any document or file by mistake, please leave the Restricted Area immediately and contact us by email at commercialweb@shoosmiths.co.uk as soon as possible.

6.3 Please also contact us by email at commercialweb@shoosmiths.co.uk if we have notified you that you are permitted to access a Restricted Area but are unable to obtain access to it.

6.4 The Restricted Areas should only be accessed using a computer linked to a secure network environment.

6.5 You must not allow any other person to use your username, password or other login details. If you believe someone else knows your login details please contact us by email at qh-support@shoosmiths.co.uk as soon as possible.

6.6 In the case of certain Restricted Areas we will supply you with temporary login details which must be changed on your first accessing the Restricted Area. The login details should be at least 8 characters in length and contain alpha and numeric characters. You should not choose details that may be easily identifiable by others. Login details should be changed regularly and not less than once every 6 weeks.

6.7 We reserve the right to remove you from the authorised list of users for any Restricted Area of the Site at any time.

6.8 Parts of the Site incorporate 128 bit encryption technology, however, we cannot guarantee that unauthorised people will not be able to access confidential information hosted on or downloaded from the Site.

6.9 The information, documents and files hosted on the Restricted Areas are confidential and may be privileged. You must not distribute the documents and files hosted in these areas except to persons authorised by Shoosmiths to read them. If you believe that you may have been granted access to information, a document or a file by mistake you must not download it, copy it, use it for any purpose or disclose its contents to any other person. Where you are subject to a separate agreement or undertaking (such as a confidentiality agreement) then such agreement or undertaking shall apply in addition to and, in the case of conflict or inconsistency, in priority to these terms and conditions.

6.10 You shall not obtain or attempt to obtain unauthorised access to a Restricted Area or to a Restricted Area other than that which has been identified as being available to you through the logins and passwords notified to you or to any other area of Shoosmiths' computer system or network nor will you attempt to evade our authentication or security procedures nor assist, encourage or permit any other person to do any of the above things.

6.11 You should be aware that some of the documents, files and other information may contain personal data subject to applicable data protection legislation. You must not use that data contrary to such legislation. To the extent that your jurisdiction does not have in force data protection legislation at least as stringent as that applying in Scotland from time to time you undertake to treat such personal data as if it were subject to the legislation applying in Scotland from time to time to the extent it is more stringent.

6.12 Shoosmiths shall not be liable for any losses you suffer as a result of unauthorised access to your account until such time as you have informed us of unauthorised use or possible unauthorised use of your login details or of a breach of security. Shoosmiths shall not be liable for any loss or damage whatsoever resulting from your use of a Restricted Area other than in accordance with these terms including but without limitation any special, consequential or indirect loss, any loss of profit or goodwill, any loss of data or for any business or economic loss arising out of the use of or the inability to use a Restricted Area. We do not charge you any separate fee for access to and use of the Restricted Areas. On this basis you agree that these terms, and in particular the limits on our liability and obligations, are fair and reasonable.

6.13 If you are accessing a Restricted Area to use the services available through it otherwise than in the course of your business, you have certain statutory rights as a consumer regarding the performance of services. These statutory rights will not be affected by any statement contained in these Terms.

6.14 Subject to the additional terms set out below applicable to particular Restricted Areas, you may not print any part of the content of the Restricted Areas.

7. General

7.1 If any provision of the Terms is judged to be illegal or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of the provisions of the Terms shall continue in full force and effect.
7.2 We will use our reasonable endeavours to make the Site available 24 hours a day, however we will not be liable if for any reason the Site is not available at any time or for any period. Access to the Site may be suspended at any time.
7.3 We cannot guarantee that the Site and its document delivery system will operate in accordance with your expectations or will be error free. If you are aware of any error on the Site please contact us by email at commercialweb@shoosmiths.co.uk and we will endeavour to correct it.
7.4 The Terms shall be governed by and construed according to Scots law and any disputes arising in connection with the Terms shall be subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the Scottish courts.
7.5 If any of these terms and conditions is or becomes illegal, invalid or unenforceable in any jurisdiction, that shall not affect:

i. the legality, validity or enforceability in that jurisdiction of any other term or condition which shall continue to have full force and effect ; or
ii. the legality, validity or enforceability in other jurisdictions of that or any other term or condition which shall continue to have full force and effect.

7.6 A person who is not a party to these terms and conditions may not enforce any of its terms.

7.7 No waiver of any of these terms and conditions shall be valid unless provided in writing by Shoosmiths.

7.8 If you are accessing the Site in the course of a business the express provisions of these terms are in place of all warranties, conditions, terms, undertakings and obligations implied by statute, common law, custom, trade usage, course of dealing or otherwise, all of which are excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.